Royette Tavernier Dubar, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of the Sleep and Psychosocial Adjustment Lab. Her research focuses on how sleep impacts psychosocial adjustment indices, such as academic performance, psychological well being, quality of interpersonal relationships, and technology use. Please enjoy this interview to learn more about Dr. Dubar's research and the unanswered questions awaiting future scholars.
What question are you trying to answer with your research?
My research program seeks to understand the relationship between sleep behaviors and psychosocial adjustment among emerging adults (18 – 29-year-olds). Specifically, I am interested in examining the direction of these associations. In other words, do our sleep behaviors predict changes in our psychosocial functioning? Or do aspects of our psychosocial functioning predict our sleep behaviors over time?
Why that question? What prompted your interest?
I have been fascinated with this question ever since graduate school because when I started reading the sleep literature, I was confused as to whether the research supported sleep as the predictor of psychosocial functioning or whether sleep was the outcome of our psychosocial functioning. It was like the “chicken and the egg” phenomenon, trying to understand what comes first. This is a very important question because the answers can help inform interventions and research-based advice on how to live our best, healthiest lives. Furthermore, the focus on emerging adults is important because while sleep is vital to health across the lifespan, emerging adults are at a developmental stage that is characterized by critical social and emotional changes.
What was your first research experience?
My first major research experience was completing my undergraduate thesis project under the supervision of Professor Geoffrey Navara at Trent University (Canada). I had the opportunity to design a mini experiment where I assessed Canadian students’ willingness to initiate conversations with perceived international/foreign students at Trent University. Although my study lacked adequate power to detect any statistically significant findings, I was grateful for the opportunity to delve into a research area that carried personal meaning to me. I was born and raised in Dominica (in the Caribbean) and it was quite a huge cultural shock migrating to Canada to pursue my university studies. This experience taught me that having a personal connection to a research topic can drive one’s passion for their field and doesn’t have to compromise the efficacy and credibility of the work being done.
Tell us about the research that laid the foundation for your work; whose work are you building upon?
In graduate school, my research interests were actually within the field of turning point narratives, based on Dan McAdams’ work on the life story framework. I examined the various types of meaning that individuals create about both negative and positive life experiences and the implications of those narratives for psychological well-being. Unfortunately, I was not able to continue that line of work, so I switched research areas. I will be forever grateful to my Ph.D. advisor, Teena Willoughby, for her flexibility and support during that period of transition.
The idea for studying sleep came about after having informal conversations with my graduate school colleagues about differences in our preferences for early versus late bedtimes and wake times. I then started reading about the value of sleep for adolescents and stumbled upon Mary A. Carskadon’s work on the value of later school start times for high school students. I was fascinated by the physiological changes that take place during puberty and how that affected sleep-wake patterns for adolescents, as well as the contribution of the environmental and familial factors in either promoting or hindering good sleep during this stage of development.
What questions will remain for the next generation of researchers?
I think the issue of ‘directionality’ between sleep behaviors and psychosocial functioning will always be worthy of study. Beyond this question, however, I think there are many gaps in our understanding of the role of sleep health in explaining racial/ethnic disparities in physical and mental health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated many existing challenges that individuals from minority backgrounds face. It is, therefore, critical for future generations to examine how structural systems of racism and discrimination perpetuate racial/ethnic discrepancies in healthy sleep, which, in turn, have implications for how individuals from diverse backgrounds live, work, and sleep.
What is your favorite library database or book?
Sleep Health is my go-to journal for keeping up on the latest research in the field. I have been fortunate to be an Associate Editor for Sleep Health for the past 2 years. This position has made it easier for me to keep up to date on the latest research in the field, while advocating for diverse approaches to the study of sleep across various populations.
How can someone learn more about your work?
To learn more about my work, you can visit the lab’s website: Sleep & Psychosocial Adjustment Lab
The field of sleep and psychosocial functioning is a fascinating one! For college students, my advice is to pay attention to your waking behaviors, such as physical activity, social media use, and the quality of your interpersonal relationships, because although healthy sleep best takes place in the dark, our ability to experience healthy sleep is strongly determined by what we do in the light.
